The ceremonial chamber was huge and filled with thousands of people.
My people.
I hadn’t realized that there were enough vampires in the stronghold to fill it.
After I asked, Lord Pippin told me there actually weren’t.
Half had come from other enclaves around the world to be there to see this.
“You are already a legend.” Lord Pippin lifted an eyebrow at me.
“Not exactly.”
He put a hand on my shoulder. “You are. The daughter of a former king has fought her way to the throne. It is the stuff of legends.”
Wonderful.
I flexed the hand that had wielded the sword to secure my crown. The wrist was still sore from the tattoo I had insisted on—the royal seal, reminding me always what I had done. My chuckle was bitter. “I never wanted my name associated with his. Even if he did love my mother.”
“So you do believe he loved her.”
“He must have at some point.”
He grinned. “You will be a queen to be reckoned with.”
He strolled away, heading for the rest of the overlords seated on the dais in the center. They formed a pentacle around the center throne, where the silver crown sat waiting. Lord Belshazzar was at the topmost point, and that’s where I would face when I took the—my—throne.
Their red and gold capes were trimmed with black-dyed ermine, but each was unique, reflecting the era each had become an overlord. Lord Pippin’s was the newest, appearing like something out of the painting “The Coronation of Napoleon,” and when I told him that, he winked and said he was there in the painting. I merely rolled my eyes. Lord Belshazzar’s looked like something out of a bad movie about troglodytes, and I told him that, too. He didn’t appreciate my cracks about his age—too bad, he should start to get used to it.
My own cloak was made of deep red velvet and gold embroidery, with the smallest edge of ermine I could get away with. I hated fur. I didn’t look good in it, and as a queen, I wanted to look really damn good.
I had to for Adelie.
I wanted to for the vampires I was about to rule.
Two days after they pulled me out of my mourning, they had me at the foot of the throne, ready to take my crown. I glanced at the tattoo and balled my fist again. Everything we’d fought for, right here, right now.
Lord Belshazzar stood and motioned me forward from where I was standing. There was very little pomp and circumstance in this ceremony because it was so ancient and so rare. I walked forward, cloak flowing behind, the black dress I’d chosen rustling quietly through the hushed audience. I never wore dresses, but I felt it was necessary this time.
Plus, I was strapped underneath.
A gun on my thigh, a gun at my knee, a garter of ammo, and a short sword strapped to my other leg. Let anyone try anything with me. I didn’t care who I killed at this point.
At the bottom of the stairs, Nial stood, and I couldn’t read him. I didn’t know if he was happy, pissed off, shocked, or exhausted. Maybe all four. On the other side were Felicia and Melchior. The stairs to the dais guarded by those who had witnessed my last trial.
I had been shocked to find out that no one had leaked the last trial, but then Lord Pippin had explained they had taken advantage of Niallan’s druid heritage and had him bind everyone to silence. No one in that room would, or even could, speak of what they had seen, not even to one another if there was a remote chance that anyone could hear them. Their tongues would not work.
They had also carefully crafted a story about Adelie’s unfortunate car accident that cleaved her head from her shoulders. It was easily done, and the pictures were suitably horrific in the local papers the next day.
The assholes had used my Lamborghini.
My beautiful, black estrogen mobile.
I was pissed. They owed me a new one.
I’d had a meeting with Felicia and Melchior when I came out of mourning. I found them to be marvelous allies. Maybe I couldn’t figure out which of the overlords would be a good liaison, but I knew those two were loyal.
Both Felicia and Niallan halted me with crossed swords.
They studied me.
Niallan eventually spoke. “I am the Monitor of the fourth Challenge. It shall be known to the people of the Black Heart crown that Gwynnore of Luxor, taking her grandfather’s name, has satisfied all conditions of the Challenge, as they were presented to her, by my eyes. This is sworn to by my blood.”
Felicia flipped the sword over and sliced down on Nial’s palm, scoring the skin and drawing blood.
“I am a Witness of Final Challenge,” Felicia called out to the massive audience. “It shall be known to the people of the Black Heart crown that Gwynnore of Luxor, taking her grandfather’s name, has satisfied all conditions of the Challenge as they were presented to her, by my eyes. This is sworn to by my blood.”
This time, Nial scored her skin and drew blood.
They held the swords aloft and allowed me to pass, touching the bloodied tips to the edge of the golden embroidered swords designed into the cloak I wore. As good a blessing as any vampire got.
As they mounted the stairs carefully and steadily, the five overlords stood, until one foot in front of the other placed me in front of the throne.
With a rustle, the cloak was arranged, but I didn’t sit.
Lord Belshazzar commanded the audience’s attention with his authoritative voice. “Gwynnore of Luxor, the Council of Overlords, has called you and seen that you have passed all five Challenges, along with the approval of the Monitor of Challenge and Witness of the Final Challenge. Upon this moment, you are hereby the Queen of Vampires, the Queen of Gods. We welcome you to the throne with your crown.”
Lord Pippin ambled up from behind me and held the crown out for me to take.
I grinned. I was sure that everyone watching was thinking I was smiling because I had won this crown and finally had it in my hands. It wasn’t though. It was my personal victory that no one crowned me. Only I was suited to put the crown on my own head as the queen.
I held it aloft and lowered it down until it felt just right on my head.
In fact, it felt more than just right.
It was as if it were settling in and had finally found its proper home.
Which it had. This was who I was meant to be.
Lord Belshazzar spoke again, “Gwynnore of Luxor, as the Queen of Vampires, the Queen of Gods, you are hereby granted the Black Heart Star, the very heart of your subjects. It must always be worn and guarded. Without it, you are diminished, your crown tarnished. So it has been since the beginning of time, and so it shall continue.”
This time, Cato held out a small, exquisite pillow with the ring placed on it. The crown was beautiful but impractical. This ring, with its dark black star sapphire shining from the setting, was the real sign of power, the signet that identified the queen at all times.
Some sick bastard dared to have my father offer this ring and pass the legacy to me, a legacy he had abandoned me for.
I lifted the Black Heart and slipped it on my finger on my right hand.
It was done.
I was the Queen of Gods.
The chamber erupted in applause and cheers.
I marched the curve of the dais once, looking at all the vampires that had gathered to welcome me. There were thousands here, and there were thousands more in enclaves around the world watching me as I walked.
With my head held high, I was finally where I was meant to be.
* * *
The goblets of blood were lifted high again, and cheers exploded around the room.
I didn’t totally dislike this gathering, all here to see me crowned and to celebrate. But, in my current mood, I would have preferred to be left alone, to hunt, to brood, to think on what I had to do for these people who would now bend knee to me.
This vainglorious celebration reeked of everything I didn’t want as I rose to the crown, but the overlords were insistent that this was how a crowning was celebrated: a human brought from below, left in Thrall, strapped to an upright board. Each arm stretched out, held there, looking very much like the Christians’ bloodied Savior. Both arms were sliced and left to bleed freely as those in attendance filled their goblets again and again from the veins of this sacrifice.
I was disgusted, come to think of it.
This was how the spoiled and elite acted, and I wasn’t feeling either at that moment. I was also dying to get out of the dress and back into my regular clothes. I stepped out of the room with no one really noticing—they were all blood drunk and on the sixth or seventh human.
Chattel. I couldn’t stand it.
Meandering through the stone passageways of the stronghold, I marveled that this was now my domain. Mine. I passed a few vampires as I walked, all of them immediately bowing as they caught sight of me.
Now that made me happy. I was immensely pleased by their actions.
My apartments had been moved a few days earlier, and I was now installed in the massive suite that allowed a queen to entertain guests and retreat to rest if she so chose. It needed more decorating, but for now, I was content enough to leave what was there.
I made my way to the back and up the stairs to the room that held my now massive closet.
My old wardrobe took up less than a tenth of the space, and I laughed. The dress I quickly stripped out of was going to take up another tenth of the space. I hung it up. It was a gorgeous dress. I would keep it, even though someone had told me along the way that queens never wore the same formal outfit twice.
This queen did if she liked it.
I unstrapped my weapons and pulled on a pair of leggings and a comfortable sweater. Rearranging myself, and the guns and sword, I felt better. I looked in the mirror and laughed. A warrior with a crown stared back. And that’s what I wanted to be, the female staring back at me from the glass.
I wandered once more, this time to the area where the common vampires were celebrating. There was blood, of course, but it wasn’t decadently displayed alive. There were also trays of food of every kind, and it smelled divine.
It smelled like bacon.
Someone in the masses spotted me and held their cup aloft. “To Queen Gwynnore! Live long and rule well!”
The room raised their glasses and repeated, “Queen Gwynnore!”
That sounded amazing to me, the edges of my lips tipping up in an indulgent smile.
“Whatever are you doing down here among the masses?”
I spun, and of course, Nial was standing there. Cocky, confident, arrogant, and self-assured.
“I didn’t like the other party. It was too elitist.”
“Get used to it. They like that party template. Live blood drained for their pleasure.”
“I don’t have to get used to it, Nial. I’m the queen.”
He raised his glass. “That you are.”
Glancing around, I could see the people here were having a genuinely good time. “What are you doing down here. Shouldn’t you be up there kissing asses and making sure they remember you’ve stolen the power of one of their own?”
“Parlor tricks get old. Plus, they’ll all be down in a few minutes. Exciting news and all that.”
I twisted my lips into a grimace. Time to disappear.
I plunged into the crowds, mingling and greeting people. They curtsied and bowed, but no one made a big deal about me being there. It was the way I wanted it. I wanted to be able to go and dance and drink with the people of the stronghold and the enclaves.
“Ladies and gentlemen!”
I looked at the door where the five overlords stood, clearly blood drunk and still wearing their stupid capes. How they could walk around with those things on, who knew. I had ditched mine as soon as we were off the dais. A lady in waiting had snatched it and gone off with it. They were ceremonial and kept safe, so I didn’t worry about it.
The room settled, and Lord Xenon raised what was basically a crunk cup filled with blood to toast me. “Ladies and gentlemen, we celebrate our new queen tonight!”
The cheer went up again—I would never get tired of that—and everyone took a drink.
Letting the room settle again, Lord Xenon raised his hand this time. “As is our ancient tradition, starting tomorrow, we shall begin the trials for our next king!”
Another cheer, still a thrill.
But my good mood crashed when I saw Nial standing there, smirking. I’d been so absorbed in trying to win my own trials, I’d forgotten that the overlords had already basically picked my king. I blamed it on the rush of constant adrenaline. I wasn’t that flaky.
“Tomorrow, Niallan of Arranmore will begin his trials. He is the official King Novitiate.”
There was no time to react, to let the hate and disgust boil up.
The mountain shook, and the wall behind me began to slough off into the people below.
“Move!” I screamed at the vampires who were about to be crushed.
Instinct kicked in for nearly all of them, and they sped away from the falling rocks. A few of the younger vampires hadn’t yet figured out how to use their powers, and I darted out to catch a few in a strong grip and pull them out of harm’s way. Felicia, Melchoir—when did they get here?—also did the same. The rescue group was joined by Lord Otto and Lord Pippin.
We all barely made it out of the way of the rocks.
“What the hell?” I demanded.
“Majesty, there’s fighting down below. I don’t know what’s going on,” Melchior said, pressing a headset to his ear. “I can’t—”
“Let’s go!” I snapped and led the way back through the halls. “This better not be some stupid enclave infighting. I will end them all.”
“I don’t think it is,” Felicia said, also pressing her Bluetooth so she could hear better. “There are wounded of all clans and enclaves. There was an explosion.”
“In the stronghold?” I was appalled. No one ever dared to attack this mountain. “Who? Who is doing this?”
“I don’t know, your highness!” Felicia ran her hands through her hair, distressed by her inability to answer the questions.
I ordered, “Get everyone out of the public spaces. Get them all back to their rooms. If they are visiting, have them split among the apartments. Keep everyone out of the hallways! We have to get the security force through them, and I don’t want people getting hurt.”
My attention snapped to the overlords, who were desperately trying to gain their sobriety back from the overabundance of blood at the ridiculous party they insisted was tradition.
First act as queen, that disgusting display of decadence was never happening again…if they let me.
I could see they were going to recover, so I had that for me. As we headed for the deepest parts of the mountain, the very ground shook again. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that the whole mountain was moving.
What kind of explosives did they have?
Felicia barked commands into her Bluetooth, and we all started running.
Two explosions?
Or was this a mistaken analysis of an earthquake?
We were in the area of the world the humans called The Ring of Fire, and we were subject to both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Was this stronghold about to be consumed by a volcano? We would have to evacuate immediately—everyone would get out, but our lives would be left encased in granite.
I stopped dead, and the half-sober overlords behind us crashed into Nial.
I pointed at Melchior. “Get everyone out of the mountain. Treat this like an eruption. Out. I’d rather let them back in after everything is fine than lose a single life. Go.”
Melchior took off at vampire speed through the hall to implement the evacuation plans I knew existed. Felicia, Nial and I started down the hallway, this time at near vampire speed to where she had said the source of the problem had been.
The chamber, where only hours before thousands of vampires had been housed while I was crowned, lay in shambles. ‘Shambles’ was kind, I corrected myself. It was gone. The mountain had been brought down, crushing nearly three-quarters of what had been open area before, and there was a hint of cold, thin air in the room.
“A breach,” Nial said.
A bullet whizzed by us, embedding in the rock nearby—and exploded.
Everyone ducked into a crouch.
The overlords completely sobered at that moment. Someone had breached our stronghold and was now going to start firing at us, with blast rounds. And those rounds meant that whoever was trying to get in knew exactly what we were.
And how to kill us.
Another bullet and explosion.
“We have to find out where that is coming from. This isn’t a volcano.” Lord Pippin, who had been the least drunk and was the most sober, now crawled up to me. He looked at Felicia and Nial. “I don’t know if it’s smart to evacuate or not, but we’ll let it go for now.”
“They can get away much easier this way if we’re being attacked,” Nial offered.
“Who is properly outfitted for a firefight?” I looked at the others around me and watched as only Felicia and Nial raised their hands. “You lazy ass overlords. No more blood parties.”
I pulled out two of the four guns I had on me, handed one to Lord Pippin and one to Lord Otto.
Felicia pulled out one for Lord Xenon, and Nial lent two of his five to Lord Cato and Lord Belshazzar.
Nial rumbled, “Remember that you only have those rounds and one spare clip. Don’t go walking around like you’re a fucking terminator, shooting willy-nilly.”
“What’s a terminator?” Lord Otto asked.
Nial rolled his eyes. “Oh, for—”
“Never mind!” I snapped the words off. “Just don’t fire at everything, since it seems you’ve forgotten to take care of your military training. Spears and cannons aren’t used anymore.” I glanced at Felicia. “Schedule them all for range time.”
She grinned. “Yes, your highness.”
“Nial, go right and stay low. Look for the breach. That’s where they were shooting from.”
“I suggest we assume that they’re as conservative with ammo as we are,” he said. He pointed to Lord Otto, Lord Xenon, and Lord Belshazzar to follow him. Hunkered down, they walked behind the rocks that had fallen out of what we were all assuming was the line of sight for the shooter—or shooters.
“What are we doing?” Lord Pippin asked, hefting the gun. “This is nice. I’m out of practice.”
Felicia grumbled, “We’re looking for the same thing they are—the person who shot at us and who blew up the side of a mountain.”
Cato looked at me. “You realize this was probably mistimed? That this was supposed to go off hours ago and crush the dais.”
“You think?” I leveled my gaze at him. “That would have taken out the five of you, me, and anyone close by, and left this place in tatters.”
“And the whole damn vampire population with no guidance.” Lord Pippin tapped his nose.
“So we are attacked—”
Another explosion went off, and a hail of explosive rounds followed it in the direction of the others. I moved, running out of the way of the bits of falling debris and following the bullets back toward the origin. Cato, Felicia, and Lord Pippin were right behind me, and we were able to scramble out of what I thought was their field of vision.
More bullets and we moved again.
Closer to where we could see a touch of daylight streaming in.
A body moved ahead of us in the breach.
I took aim and fired.
By the spray and smell of blood from the exploding round, I guessed I must’ve hit whoever was in there.
That was confirmed a moment later. “Bitch!”
I grinned in feral delight.
“So this was an attack,” Felicia said.
Cato snorted in agreement of the obvious.
There was a small hail of bullets aimed at where we were, and they ricocheted off the rocks they were hitting, exploding when they finally found a target. Carefully, slowly, I crawled up the broken walls of the chamber, staying low and remaining out of view.
“You know, as queen, you really should have evacuated with everyone else,” Lord Pippin stated not so helpfully, crawling right along with me.
“As overlord, you should have too. But here we are, trying to sneak toward the gunfire and hoping we don’t get shot by exploding rounds.”
The gunshots were sounding much closer, and I suspected we were close to the source.
Nial’s voice cracked through the air. “Run! Get out of here!”
I didn’t realize he was screaming at us.
I didn’t move.
Almost the last thought I ever made was, damn, his voice could really carry.
Lord Belshazzar’s speeding vampire form darted across our field of vision as he grabbed something out of the air just above us. He hurled it back toward the direction it had come from, and the stick of dynamite lodged into the far rocks…seconds left on the fuse.
Who the hell used dynamite with fuses anymore?
There wasn’t time for much more thought beyond that as Lord Belshazzar grabbed me, triggering Lord Pippin, Cato, and Felicia to kick into high speed and get away from the crack in the rock where the dynamite had lodged.
Speeding away from the disaster, I watched as it unfolded in almost slow motion, the entire group reforming from various locations to escape.
The flash of detonation changed into the fire of rapid expansion. The compression wave it created pushed the rock away from other rocks, cracking them under sudden impact. It blossomed outward like a red flower of death hurling the rocks in its way, with forces hard and strong enough to rip a man’s head from his neck.
What I saw in the next moments rocked me to the core.
Instead of Cato running with us toward the door, to escape the crush of the rock and burn of the fire, I watched as he plunged in headlong into the heat and ash. He found the attackers in the moving debris and grabbed the flying bodies out of the air. All four of them. And in his death grip, he pulled their forms to the side, out of the way of the crushing rocks.
But he wasn’t saving them.
Two of them, he viciously ripped their heads off their shoulders and tossed them to the ground. The third, he snapped his neck, ripping the skin and sinew away to let him bleed out. The last, he dug his fangs into and sucked the blood from his veins as it pumped wildly out of the body.
We turned the corner, and there was no view of what was going on. Just the air pressure of the explosion, the chaos of the sound of crashing rocks. Smashing ourselves into the far wall as rocks, debris, and dust was vomited out of the opening to what used to be a massive amphitheater.
I scrambled to my feet and tried to run for the small opening left to the once cavernous room.
“Why the fuck didn’t you move?” Lord Belshazzar grabbed my arm and pulled me back. He shook me inside his hold, slamming my chest against his to gain my full attention. “You guys could have been killed.”
“We didn’t know he was yelling at us,” Lord Pippin said. His eyes found my struggling form, as I tugged on my captured arm. He muttered, “Relax. We’re all alive. And they should all be dead now.”
Nial rested back against a wall and dusted off one of his sleeves with his free hand and shrugged, agreeing with him.
Lord Otto and Lord Pippin weren’t arguing either.
“That attitude got us here,” I snapped, and I finally yanked my arm out of the Lord Belshazzar’s grip. I did a onceover glance at the lord I’d just escaped from, making sure he wasn’t hurt. Lord Belshazzar appeared fine, so I pretended as if I wasn’t worried for him and hadn’t just checked him out. “There are five overlords here who were basically drunk and useless because of a blasé attitude. Someone attacked our stronghold, and you’re trying to keep me from going back in to make sure all the bad guys are dead?”
Nial crossed his arms. “No, but you don’t need to run into the line of fire.”
“Stop. Now.” Lord Belshazzar growled at everyone. “Lord Cato is taking care of it.”
That exact man crawled out of the hole to the former room. He was covered from head to toe in blood and dust and truly looked like a nightmare in vampire form. Dusting his hands together, he tipped his head at me.
“Kept the crown, eh, girly?”
I walked over and smacked him straight across his dirt-smeared, smug face. I was going to have to find a new way to express my anger at people, but not right now. “What the hell was that hero crap? You’re an overlord!”
Cato’s brows rose on his gruesome features, while he rubbed the side of his face I’d whacked. “Gwynnore, despite your assumptions of me, I can handle myself. And others.”
“Let’s all try to pretend we like each other for a short second.” Nial ran his fingers through his delectable hair, voicing what I really wanted to know. “Anyone want to explain why they think the vampire stronghold was attacked?”
Cato, through the blood, gore, and grime covering him, stared at the filth on his hand, then looked up at Nial and me standing there. One side of his lips quirked up in an unamused grin, and he stated, “You have no idea what’s coming…”
THE BLOOD WILL CONTINUE…